Seeing without Sight
by xenobubbles
Summary: When Zim's eyes encounter a malfunction, and cease to work, he's trapped in a world of utter isolation and blackness. Waiting, unable to leave lest he put his own life in jeopardy, he sits in a near-silent darkness. But nobody comes. At least, nobody expected.
1. Chapter 1

He awoke to nothing. "Computer! Turn on the lights! ZIM CANNOT SEE!" He screamed, and waited. Nothing. "COMPUTER! TURN ON THE STINKING LIGHTS!"

"THEY _ARE_ ON, YOU IMBECILE! WHAT ARE YOU, BLIND?" The computer screamed back, sarcasm heavy in it's synthetic voice.

What are you, blind? _What are you, blind? __**Blind?**_

The words ricocheted off the walls of his subconscious, shoving their way forward into his primary train of thought. _What are you, blind?_ His PAK, at his command, did a quick scan of his eyes.

Something was wrong. They were malfunctioning. The optic nerve wasn't working, and the orbs themselves weren't taking in the images around him, projecting them back to his PAK; his brain. Zim felt a wave of panic wash through his form, the equivalent of the irken adrenal glands kicking into action and pumping him full of a jittery, terrified energy. He stumbled forward, toppling from his rest and recovery unit, body making a harsh contact with the too-cold floor. The world, locked in darkness, was now alien to him. He could leave his room, navigate, certainly. But it was only a matter of time until he fell down an elevator shaft. He would only be counting down until he ran across one of his toxic waste vats, or one of GIR's hazardous messes he left lying around. Leaving this room was a ticking timebomb: Leaving this room was courting death himself.

And suddenly, a new wave of terror shook the poor Invader: Formal requests for new body parts needed a signature. How could he sign paperwork if he couldn't actually get to the paperwork, much less what he'd be sending the request out on. He would be trapped here for the rest of his natural life...

No, no... surely someone would notice and come to his aid! Of course! The tallest, not hearing from Zim, would worry! They'd send someone to check on him, their greatest invader, and everything would be okay! Yes! Now all he had to do was wait.

Zim pulled himself into a sitting position, curling up near what he assumed to be the end of his sleeper container and sighed. It couldn't be long now.

It couldn't be long now...

It... it really couldn't be long now...

But all he could hear was the grinding, moving parts of his house and his own breathing, becoming more and more panicked. He checked his PAK, which alerted him, yes, it very well could be long now.

It had only been a week. A week of waiting, and already the blackness, the endless blackness, was driving the irken crazy. The blackness, accompanied by the silence.

Still... it couldn't be long now, right?

It was a lovely Saturday morning, and Dib, the town's perhaps only good paranormal investigator (and thus the most over looked one), was a man on a mission. Or, rather a highschooler who'd gotten out of chores because DAMN IT! His room could wait! This was a matter of saving the Earth here, and why couldn't his father understand!

Oh well, that really didn't matter now. He strode up to the eerie green house, knocking forcefully on the door. GIR answered. "HEY! Where's Zim? What _evil_ plans is he coming up with? Why hasn't be been at school all week? Can I come in?" Dib asked, rambling of multiple questions at once.

"Sorry, Mister Big head! Master is busy feeling sick and heeeee can't plaaaaaaay!" GIR screamed, and slammed the door in Dib's face.

Down below, Zim barely picked up the exchange. His antennae perked, and head aim upwards, he shrieked. "DIIIIIB! DIB HUMAN!" He continued screaming, shouting, for several hours, until his voice was nothing more than a ragged squeak. His mouth stayed open for some time, stuck in a silent scream, until eventually, he gave up, closing his mouth and slumping forward. If is eyes were shut, or if they were open, he was completely unaware. How long Zim stayed like that, unable to leave, or at this point call for some sort of assistance, he did not know.

He didn't have the heart to check.


	2. Chapter 2

For the next few days, Dib tried and failed to get into the base to find out what Zim was up to. On his 4th day trying, he brought tacos along with him. GIR, like always, answered the door and began to tell Dib how Zim couldn't play today. However, he noticed the tacos, and began shrieking. Dib waved the tacos tauntingly, and when the robot broke into a run towards him, he punted GIR into the next room, tossing the tacos in after him and entering the base. The human crept stealthily through the first floor and found nothing. He made his way to the elevator, selecting the floor he knew to be more of the living level for Zim. Maybe he'd find something there.

Meanwhile, the Irken sat silently in his room, mind and expression blank. He was completely oblivious to anything happening around him: All was silence, all was blackness. Zim was totally and utterly isolated, and the endless, hollow nothingness had seemed to temporarily overtake him.

Until he heard the door slide open.

Dib just stared at the shell-like form of Zim, laying there, head lopsided as he stared into nothingness. His eyes were blank, lacking their usual sheen. "Who's there?" Zim asked, his voice gravelly and rough.

"Just, uh... Me?" Dib asked more than answered, looking around. "You can't see me?" Zim's head turned towards the source of the voice, but his eyes... those terrifyingly blank eyes looked right past the human, _right through the human_.

"Oh. Just the Dib. Zim was merely sitting here, thinking of an _ingenious_ plan to destroy the world! Like usual!" He cackled, standing up and dusting himself off. His oddly hollow eyes stared kind of close to where Dib was, but didn't entirely look at him either.

"Sitting in your room looking depressed and forlorn is thinking of an ingenious plan? News to me." Dib frowned, placing his hands on his hips. "Really, what's wrong with you?" He asked.

"NOTHING." Zim shrieked, pointing past Dib's shoulder.

"So, if I tried to connect this spy camera to your systems, you'd try and stop me and be 100% functional and capable?" Dib asked with a smirk, despite the fact that he had no such equipment with him.

"Of course!" The Invader beamed.

Dib began hammering his fist on the wall a short ways away from himself. "Stop me." He smiled.

Zim lunged at the source of the sound, completely missing the human and crashing into the wall with a sickening crunch. "Ow..." He murmured. "Now I think my shoulder is out of socket too."

"Too?" Dib asked, grabbing Zim by his arm and tugging him up. "This suggests that your shoulder isn't the only thing currently wrong with you." The human said calmly, twirling the dazed Irken around, now having hold of both of Zim's arms. "Now, if you don't spill it, I'll pull the other one out of socket, and then your legs too, and then leave you here completely helpless. Sounds fun, right?" Dib asked, grinning from ear to ear.

Zim could feel he was at a slight disadvantage at this point, and sighed. "Stop smirking, Zim can feel your coyness," He grimaced.

"Yeah, okay." The human said, letting his smile ease a bit.

Zim sighed, "I was waiting here, hoping someone had been sent to assist me in my current sight-related predicament."

"Assist you? Sight related?" Dib frowned. "So, you're blind?" The human asked, making a reasonable assumption.

"You win. Your prize is breathable air."

"Oh, uh... yay." The dark-haired teenaged rolled his eyes. "So, are you just going to sit around here and hope that someone comes to help you?"

"That was the plan, yes." Zim groaned. It really wasn't sounding as easy he'd hoped, thinking about it now. After a long pause, the Irken sighed in what felt like, and sounded like, defeat. "Could Zim implore you for a favour?"

"You could try." Dib said, the smirk re-plastering itself to his face.

"Ughh... you have the face again." the alien grimaced. "Stop having that face."

"Sorry, it's a habit. Like you shrieking 'victory for Zim!'." The human replied, shrugging. "Anyways, weren't you supposed to be imploring me for a favour?" He asked innocently.

"Kch... Well, Dib-human, since it seems Zim is at a slight disadvantage here, he was wondering if you would be generous enough to donate your time and efforts in assisting Zim until he can order new eyes and they come in." Sighed the alien, rolling his dead, non-functioning eyes.

"Hmm... Well, I dunno, what's in it for me?" Dib asked.

"Being as you would be assisting me, you'd have access to my base and probably learn a lot about Irkens while in my presence. Could I also implore you not to destroy too much? Though that's really up to you and how much goodness you have in your organs. You know, destroying the property of a helpless little alien and all."

Dib frowned contemplatively. "Yeah, I suppose I can help you out. And just try not to antagonize me too much, and your property should remain intact. You have my word." The human said, raising a hand up as though he were swearing something.

"Okay, first plan of action: I need to get to my lab to fill out a formal request for new body parts." Zim said. "I can tell you the way, you lead me so I don't die a horrible death by tripping down an elevator shaft or something."

"Okay then." Dib replied, hoisting the invader up.

"Zim can walk!" He shrieked, sounding slightly terrified.

"You just said you didn't want to trip over anything..." The human rolled his eyes. "I promise, I won't drop you."

"You'd better not!" Zim seethed as they made their way slowly down to the communications centre.


End file.
